Smartphone, video games, TV… The time spent in front of the screens of French children has been constantly increasing in recent years, according to several studies carried out. But until now, no national investigation had been carried out on the subject.
So, using data from the Elfe study, which follows more than 18,000 families in the country with a child born after 2011, researchers from Inserm and Santé Publique France draw up a picture of the time spent on screens by elderly children. from 2 years to 5 and a half years. And the result is edifying to say the least: from the age of two, a French child spends an average of 56 minutes each day in front of a screen. But this figure differs from region to region.
Parents overwhelmed by screen exposure
Thus, a child from Hauts-de-France watches more television than a 2-year-old Breton, with an average of 1 hour and 4 minutes for the first, against only 41 minutes for the second. And the habits acquired from an early age persist: at 5 and a half years old, children from Hauts-de-France still spend more time in front of screens than those from other regions with 1 hour 43 mins of exposure on average. That’s 26 minutes longer than a child in the Pays de la Loire region, for example.
Another worrying fact, this report shows that only 13% of parents apply the recommendation “no screen before 2 years”. However, this recommendation is essential, at the risk a few years later of having deleterious effects on its offspring.
Fewer faculties
“With one hour of screen a day in kindergarten, you lose almost 40% of the mathematical competence of children in CM2. And this is explained precisely by the fact that if you take an hour to play, the child piles up small squares on the big effects, makes Legos. And to build the number, you have to be able to be serious, you have to be able to prioritize. not found on screens, says Michel Desmurget, neuroscientist at Inserm.
So, to avoid any delay, the researcher advises avoiding screens ideally, from 0 to 5 years old.